Double billed for phone purchased on cricketwireless.com, then phone blacklisted

I’m not the first person with this issue if you look through the community forum.  I was double charged for a phone I purchased through cricketwireless.com and when I tried to get one of the charges reversed by calling Cricket “Customer Support”, the person I spoke with told me to dispute the charge with my bank… fast-forward a week after I disputed one of the charges and my phone was reported “lost or stolen” by Cricket Wireless for a charge back.  I wasn’t given a phone call, text, or issued a warning of any kind that this had happened, my phone just stopped working.

I called Cricket Wireless “Customer Support” five times the same day my phone stopped receiving calls (calls to cricket support go through just fine) to get the issue sorted out and each time I got a different person with a different suggestion of how to resolve my issue.  Clearly customer support is not a priority of Cricket Wireless.  I eventually happened to get someone on the online chat support that went as far as to tell me that they would issue a ticket with the “advanced support team” and tried to get my device unlocked, I was issued a case number and told I would be reached in 5-7 days.  I’ve gone a week without service on a new phone that I just bought, I doubt very much that I will be getting my new phone unblocked, but if by some miracle this happens I’ll update this topic.

This is a warning for anyone who purchases devices through Cricket Wireless, check your card/bank statement right away after making a purchase!  I will be purchasing unlocked phones from now on and plan on switching my phone service along with my wife if cricket support doesn’t come through.